Hasta La Gadget!

Fire: the most primal element. “It’s a living thing,” Robert De Niro once said, “It breathes, it eats, and it hates. The only way to beat it is to think like it.” Unless you’re an artist – then you rig up a series of tubes, pump in some kerosene, and connect it to a Power Glove-like control device. Next thing you know, you’re “fire painting,” making that hateful beast dance and strut for your amusement. “Its burning can be handled by subtle movements of the sensory data glove for tactile formulation of the fiery image,” the artist explains, “Thus, the image can be manipulated, yet it constantly escapes control.” To know what it’s like to summon flame with a flick of your wrist – while sporting a creepy smiley-face welding mask, no less – see the video above.

Painting with fire, thanks to a cybernetic glove (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 25 Apr 2011 04:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nintendo has just announced it plans to introduce a successor to its Wii console next year, a “playable model” of which will be shown off at the E3 gaming expo in Los Angeles coming up on June 7th. No details are available as to how the next Wii will improve on the first one, though we imagine Nintendo will be happy if it simply matches the success of its current-gen home entertainer — the brief note publicizing the new roadmap also comes with a total of Wii sales accumulated between its launch in ’06 and the end of last month: 86.01 million. That’s said to be on a “consolidated shipment basis,” so maybe Nintendo is mixing its definitions of sales and shipments the way Sony likes to, but it’s a mighty big number either way. Bring on E3, we say!

Update: Bloomberg has provided the first official hint about Nintendo’s next console with a quote from company President Satoru Iwata. Nintendo will “propose a new approach to home video game consoles,” though it won’t be a simple move to 3D, as Iwata notes “it’s difficult to make 3-D images a key feature, because 3-D televisions haven’t obtained wide acceptance yet.” Given that motion gaming is no longer new and 3D is off the table until 3DTVs go mainstream, we’re now left facing only one potentiality — Nintendo is planning on bringing genuine innovation to our living rooms. We suppose it also adds fuel to the rumor of a crazy next-gen controller to go with this next-gen console.

Continue reading Nintendo confirms next Wii coming in 2012, will preview it at E3

Nintendo confirms next Wii coming in 2012, will preview it at E3 originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 25 Apr 2011 03:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Yearning for some diversity in your hunt for a Honeycomb tablet? Acer’s new Iconia Tab A500 doesn’t really stray from the Tegra 2 norm when it comes to internal specs, but it does have that brushed aluminum back, a full-sized USB 2.0 port, and a sane $450 price point going for it. You’ll get 16GB of storage and 802.11b/g/n WiFi connectivity for your money, though ASUS’ similarly outfitted Eee Pad Transformer should also be prominent on your radar as it’ll ask for an even humbler $399 when it makes its slightly delayed US launch tomorrow. Let’s hope the arrival of these Taiwanese cousins nudges other Android tablets makers into engaging in a bit of price competition, eh?

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Acer Iconia Tab A500 now on sale, $450 for aluminum-clad WiFi-only model originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 25 Apr 2011 02:55:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Looks like another director’s been on a shopping spree lately, as RED’s Jim Jannard’s just announced that he sold another 50 EPIC-Ms to one generous customer. Who’s this, you ask? Why, it’s James Cameron of Avatar and Titanic fame, and he’s probably just blown $2.9 million on his latest stash of cinematographic toys — it’s $58,000 a pop for these hand-machined professional cameras. Details are scarce at the moment, but any educated guess would point at the upcoming Avatar 2 due end of 2014, meaning our favorite blue aliens will be returning in a healthy 5K resolution. Keep an eye out for Jannard’s official announcement later this week for the full lowdown.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

James Cameron picks up 50 RED EPIC-Ms, high-fives Peter Jackson originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 25 Apr 2011 01:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you’re an anime fan or moe-loving otaku then this should certainly cheer you up.

The iPhone app Rodoku Shojo (Story Time Girl), which features a female anime character called Shiori Otoha reading out classic literature, is now providing earthquake messages of support, written especially for the app by a range of contemporary authors and manga artists. The hope is that these messages motivate people and help inject some positive energy into a damaged Japan.

The Roduku Shojo app is voiced by Nozomi Sasaki and has been downloaded 500 thousand times since its July 2010 release. The app itself is free but adding books for Shiori to read to you costs between 115 and 450 JPY (US$1.40-5.50), depending on the length of the tale. Somehow I doubt the typical Japanese otaku reads much Akutagawa or Kenji Miyazawa (some of the writers on offer), so this is certainly one way to improve the population’s literacy levels.

Rodoku Shojo even made the retroactive switch from digital to analog recently, with a manga comic book of Shiori’s adventures being published in December. These kinds of subculture characters are very flexible and their designers can get a lot of mileage from them, expanding into other media and industries once they have built up a loyal consumer base of the female protagonist’s fans. However, likely nothing beats the charm of having a petite lady reading you a bedtime story from inside your phone.

[Via J-Cast]